The 10 Most Important Bears in 2010 - #4 Tommie Harris

Even with Peppers, if T Harris has a (" let me just chill and be the highest paid DT in the league and hang out and count my money") type of year then the bears defense wil not be anywhere near as good as it can be. One dominate lineman can be planed for , but two is a much bigger problem for the O line. Magnified by cutting ties with A Brown Harris will need to get that inside push or QBs will have enough time to pick apart the secondary. And lets be honest it may be headed in the right direction, but our secondary is still not the biggest strength of the team. So in some ways you could argue Harris could be the most important players on D-fense IMO.

Tommie is a ineffective as he has been the past 3 years. The problem is, it almost doesn’t matter anymore. IMO, Harris is #1 or #2 in terms of importance to this Bears team. If he does not play great (not just good, but great), the defense will be marginal at best. If Tommie plays badly, Urlacher’s speed and range are negated and Urlacher probably ends up playing at 80% because of nagging injuries. Also, opposing teams will run like crazy up the middle (like last season), making Peppers much less effective. The poor rushing defense will necessitate C Harris having to play more in the box and leaving the deep routes open for big plays and exposing C Harris to more injury risk. Add Tillman and/or Bowman having to provide more run support as well makes them each less effective in coverage. My prediction is that Tommie flames out and plays badly and that leads to the firing of Lovie. I hope I am absolutely 100% wrong.

I mean he almost got cut this off-season when they signed Peppers, but instead they cut Alex Brown because of the importance of the 3 technique in this scheme. I think anywhere in the 1-4 range is the right spot for Tommie. I expect to see the Tommie that we saw at the end of last season because of the amount of pressure that is put on him. If Lovie loses his job, Harris is gone. If Harris under performs, but the team succeeds, He still we be as good as gone.

I’m looking forward to the end of the lip service on TH and to see what happens once he puts pads on. I don’t believe anything the hype machine spits out about him concerning his health given his recent track record. Bottom line he needs to perform so that the rest of the guys can be more effective. If he’s going to be dead weight or bring that weak sauce, it’s time for Tommie to find another team to rob a paycheck from.

The guy never recovered from that brutal injury in 2006 (and he never will). Teams don’t need to double team Tommie Harris — and they have not been doing do the last 2 years.

Unfortunately, Harrison has been a bust, and we’re looking to use Gilbert at DE (for some stupid reason – like we need a few much sub-standard back-up DEs!!!) — so we don’t have anyone worth a damn to play the 3 technique. Idonjie would be our best bet, but we’re planning to keep him at DE.

MNF game from last season, and paid EXTRA SPECIAL close attention to Harris’ play when he was in the game, and he looked sharp.

He was not only being a difference maker, but he was playing with emotion and intensity, and passing that off to teammates.

THAT’S the Tommie we need again—and if he’s there (both physically and emotionally), I definitely believe we can be a dominant defense again.

Nice job as always, Wilt—LOVE your top 10 series; it’s always been a favorite, one of those few things that makes the offseason otherwise endurable (and by “endurable”, I mean “bored almost to the point of offing myself, but deciding not to at the last minute…”)
:-)